NHL on Fox
NHL on Fox was a television program that televised NHL games on the Fox television network and produced by Fox Sports. The program ran from the 1994–95 NHL season until 1998–99 NHL season. Fox paid $31 million a year ($155 million in total) to televise the NHL. Coverage Overview NHL's initial deal with Fox was significant as a network television contract in the United States was long thought unattainable during the presidency of John Ziegler. For 17 years after the 1975 Finals was broadcast on NBC, there would be no national over-the-air network coverage of the NHL in the United States, except CBS' coverage of Game 2 of the 1979 Challenge Cup and Game 6 of the 1980 Stanley Cup Finals, and NBC's coverage of the NHL All-Star Game from 1990 to 1994) and only spotty coverage on regional networks. This was due to the fact that no network was willing to commit to a large number of games, in turn, providing low ratings for NHL games. ABC eventually resume broadcasting regular NHL games (on a time buy basis through ESPN) for the 1992–93 season (and continuing through the 1993–94 season before Fox took over for the next five seasons). The Fox deal is perhaps best remembered for the FoxTrax puck, which while generally popular according to Fox Sports, generated a great deal of controversy from longtime fans of the game. Fox inaugurated its NHL coverage on April 2, 1995, towards the end of the 1994–95 regular season, with 6 games (between New York Rangers at Philadelphia Flyers; St. Louis Blues at Detroit Red Wings; Boston Bruins at Washington Capitals; Chicago Blackhawks at Dallas Stars; Florida Panthers at Tampa Bay Lightning; and San Jose Sharks at Anaheim Ducks). Mike Emrick and John Davidson served as the lead broadcast team for national game broadcasts on FOX, while regionally distributed games were handled by a variety of announcers, in addition to Emrick and Davidson. For the first 4 years of the deal, James Brown hosted the show from the Fox Network Center in Los Angeles and Dave Maloney as analyst from the Fox Network Center studios in Los Angeles. For the 5th and final season, Suzy Kolber served as the studio host and Terry Crisp served as the studio analyst. Occasionally, active NHL players such as Mike Modano would serve as guest analysts. FoxTrax FoxTrax (colloquially also called the glow puck, smart puck, laser puck, Fox Puck or super puck) was a specialized ice hockey puck with internal electronics that allowed its position to be tracked designed for NHL telecasts on the Fox television network. Primarily, it was used to visually highlight the puck on-screen and display a trail when the puck was moving rapidly. In 1994, Fox won a contract to broadcast NHL games in United States. A common complaint among viewers was that the puck was difficult to follow on the ice. Thus, FoxTrax was created to remedy this problem. The FoxTrax puck was first used during the 1996 NHL All-Star Game. It was last used during Game 1 of the 1998 Stanley Cup Finals. FOX was scheduled to televise Games 5, and 7, but the series ended in 4 games. In August of 1998, NHL broadcast rights went to ABC, and FoxTrax was not brought back for the final season. Stanley Cup Playoff Coverage In the first two rounds of the playoffs, 2 games were televised each round. Canadians were upset over the apparent preference that NHL had to Fox ahead of CBC for scheduling of playoff games as Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette wrote that the schedule was "just another example of how the'' NHL snubs its nose at the country that invented hockey and its fans." The controversy repeated itself in 2007 as CBC was once again given second billing to Versus' coverage of the playoffs. All-Star Game, Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Finals For the NHL All-Star Game, Conference Finals, and Stanley Cup Finals, the games are national games were hosted from the arena. The 1996 and 1997 NHL All-Star Games were televised in prime time. Stanley Cup Finals Fox split coverage of the Stanley Cup Finals with ESPN. Game 1 of the 1995 Stanley Cup Finals was the first Finals game shown on network television since 1980 and the first in prime time since 1973. Games 1, 5, and 7 were usually scheduled to be televised by FOX. Games 2, 3, 4, and 6 by ESPN, however from 1995-1998, the Finals were all 4 game sweeps and 1999 ended in 6 games. The consequence was that (except for 1995, when Fox did televised Game 4) the decisive game was never on network television. Perhaps in recognition of this, Games 3–7 were always televised by ABC in the succeeding broadcast agreement between the NHL and ABC Sports/ESPN. Game 4 of the 1995 Stanley Cup Final was notable because not only did New Jersey Devils win the Stanley Cup, but also their lead television play-by-play announcer, 'Mike Emrick''' announced it. Stanley Cup Finals Broadcast Schedules *1995: Games 1, 4, 5, and 7 on FOX; Games 2, 3, and 6 on ESPN *1996: Games 1, 3, 5, and 7 on FOX; Games 2, 4, and 6 on ESPN *1997: Games 1, 5, 6, and 7 on FOX; Games 2, 3, and 4 on ESPN *1998: Games 1, 5, and 7 on FOX; Games 2, 3, 4, and 6 on ESPN *1999: Games 1, 2, 5, and 7 on FOX; Games 3, 4, and 6 on ESPN The end of NHL on FOX Things ended badly between FOX and the NHL when the league announced a new TV deal with ESPN that also called for ABC to become the new network TV partner (as previously mentioned). Fox challenged that it wasn't given a chance to match the network component of the deal, but ABC ultimately prevailed. Fox placed a bid for NHL broadcast rights when they came up for renewal in 2011, but they dropped out of bidding as a result of a bidding war between NBCUniversal and ESPN. NBC Universal (who owns the NBC, Versus, and USA networks) won the bidding and a 10-year contract extension. Coverage overview Regular season Fox televised between 5 and 11 regionally distributed games on Saturday or Sunday afternoons during the regular season, where anywhere from 2 to 6 games ran concurrently. All times below are Eastern. 1994–95 1995–96 *Denotes use of FoxTrax puck. 1996–97 1997–98 Note *Fox was initially scheduled to air a Pittsburgh Penguins-Tampa Bay Lightning game on April 4. 1998–99 ^The Pittsburgh Penguins–New York Rangers game on April 18 (Wayne Gretzky's final game before his retirement) began on MSG in the New York City market as WNYW (Fox's flagship station) aired a Yankees game against the Detroit Tigers. The station would join the hockey game midway through the second period. The week prior (April 11), WNYW aired another Yankees game over the Pittsburgh-Detroit NHL game, which instead aired on MSG from start to finish. Stanley Cup playoff coverage 1995 *The May 14 game in Quebec City was the final home game ever for the Quebec Nordiques. The team would become the Colorado Avalanche in the fall of 1995. *The June 24 game in New Jersey was the Stanley Cup Finals' deciding game as New Jersey Devils swept Detroit Red Wings. Although Fox did retain rights to certain other games where the Cup could be decided (including any and all Game 7s), 1995 was the only time during its run as NHL broadcaster that Fox actually carried the Cup-clinching victory on-air. 1996 *Denotes use of FoxTrax puck. *The April 28 game in Winnipeg was the final home game for the original Winnipeg Jets. The franchise would become the Phoenix Coyotes in the fall of 1996. 1997 1998 1999 Personalities Play-by-play * Kenny Albert * Mike Emrick * Pat Foley * Randy Hahn * Rick Jeanneret * John Kelly * Mike Lange * Josh Lewin * Jiggs McDonald * Bob Miller * Howie Rose * Sam Rosen * Dick Stockton * Dave Strader Color commentator * Terry Crisp * John Davidson * Mike Eruzione * Jim Fox * Joe Micheletti * Gary Green * Peter McNab * Greg Millen * Chico Resch * Denis Potvin * Daryl Reaugh * Mickey Redmond * Craig Simpson * Paul Steigerwald * Pete Stemkowski Studio commentators * James Brown – studio host (1994–1998) * Terry Crisp – color commentary/studio analyst (1998–1999) * Suzy Kolber – studio host (1998–1999) * Dave Maloney – studio analyst (1994–1998) Reporters * Joe Micheletti * Sandra Neil * Christine Simpson Ratings Stanley Cup Finals Game 4 of the 1995 Stanley Cup Finals drew a 4.7 rating and a 10 share. In the New York City market (on Fox owned-and-operated station WNYW), the game drew a 10.6 rating and 21 share; in Detroit (on Fox affiliate, now owned-and-operated station, WJBK), it drew a 14.1 rating and 26 share. Regular season All-Star Game NHL coverage on other Fox-owned outlets Fox owned-and-operated television stations Fox Sports Networks owned-and-operated affiliates Former regional rightsholders References Notes External links * *TV Theme - FOX, Hockey Theme.wav *Puck The Media - Great Moments from The NHL on FOX *Videos of the Week - NHL on Fox *The Suitor Tutor, Part 3: All The Rest *Sports Media Watch: How Disney outfoxed the NHL. *Glow Pucks, Fox Trax and Robots. The American Hockey Fan's Fascination with NHL on FOX Part 1 Category:1990s American television series Category:Fox Sports programs Fox Category:1995 American television series debuts Category:1999 American television series endings